The 500,000 Pound Box of Pencils

A 19 year old street artist who goes by the name, Cartrain, has stolen Damien Hirsts box of

Faber/Castell Mongol 482 Series Pencils and has threatened that if Damien doesn't give him back his consfiscated art work, he will sharpen them.

In case you haven't heard of the British Artist, Damien Hirst, he produces some of the worlds priciest modern art. His work over the years has had at its core, a sensationalist need to shock. His sculptures can consist of an entire shark or a sheep cut in half, in a glass tanks filled with formeldehyde.

His latest and most sensational work is a series of multiple sculptures. He has used actual human skulls which he has had covered in diamonds and precious stones. Of course, the very idea generated instant outrage and controversy and millions of dollars.

Cartrain, on the other hand, is one of the new generation of guerilla street artists, like the legendary Banksy, or in America, Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the Obama/Hope poster image, but for years has been a shadowy figure on the streets of America creating conceptual/graffiti. Street art that makes statements and challenges us.

Of course, artists such as Cartrain and Fairey exist in the commercial sense by selling their work in galleries and on line, but the real work is the statement made in the streets which have an epemeral life span. They exist as long as they are allowed to by the forces of urban existance. Recently, a piece on the wall of a London building by Banksey, whose work in galleries commands major prices, was destroyed by civic street cleaners who were just doing their job.
The video I posted above is a piece by Cartrain. He walks into the National Portrait Gallery and puts up a collage with a little plaque on the wall, where it remains for 2 hours before it is noticed. 

So we have the engaged world of urban guerilla artists and the rarefied world of personalities like Jeff Koons and Hirst...So often the work of the big money gallery artists is purely sensational and exists mainly on a reputation level.

Cartrain created a series of images lampooning Hirsh and his skull art as being the epitomy of vapid capitalism. He exhibited them in a gallery which was served with an order to cease and desist by Hirst's lawyers. Then, Cartrains art work was seized by Hirst as well as the proceeds of the sales of the works, which came to approximately 200 Pounds.

Cartrain is a 16 year old kid who makes practically zilch and Hirst is world brand name who makes millions. This raises many ethical and moral questions, the least of which is the ability to create art which references other art. We won't even touch the fact that Hirsh's skull sculptures were inspired by the work of a friend.

So, in an inspired bit of guerilla theatrical tactics, Cartrain walked into the Tate Galleries in London, where Hirsh was exhibiting an environmental piece called Apothecary and stole a box of pencils which was part of the piece.

He then printed up posters which he distributed which stated that Cartrain was holding Hirsh's Pencils for ransom. His demand was his 200 Pounds and his artwork, due by a certain date, or he threatened to SHARPEN THE PENCILS!

Brilliant, humorous and in a better world, it should have been effective.

But, in this world, Damien Hirst proves again that he doesn't make art, HE MAKES MONEY!

He had the police arrest Cartrains father as an accomplice who might know where Cartrtain was hiding the pencils. He put a value of 500,000 Pounds on the pencils, making Cartrains act of guerilla theater potentially one of the biggest money art thefts in British History.

Cartrain, hired a lawyer and turned himself in to the police...

This story is presently in motion in Britain. I admire and support Cartrain and here's the link to his blog and the world of British Urban Street Art...

Damien Hirst? He's a corrupt, greedy sadistic bastard. He is too fucking rich to matter anymore. Let some real artists roast his greasy corpse with the satire he deserves!